In the case of Saturday’s Texas Tech volleyball match, the truth was Kansas.

A cadre of freshmen volleyballers got a lesson Saturday night in Big 12 Conference play as the Red Raiders dropped a straight-set decision to visiting Kansas in both team’s conference opener.

The Red Raiders (11-5, 0-1 in Big 12 play) rotated in six freshmen and lost 25-16, 25-16 and 25-15. They recorded their lowest hitting percentage of the season (.080) and lowest number of blocks (two).

Tech coach Don Flora was particularly displeased with the left-side players, where successful kills were few and far between.

“We told them the truth (about how they did),” Flora said. “This program is built about being really honest about what we want, and we need to compete at a high level. Our lefts were a little shy out there. They’re youngsters, and that’s part of the maturation process, but their numbers were not good.”

The Red Raiders were competitive early on, trading points with Kansas until a 9-9 tie midway through the first set.

But that’s when Kansas’ blockers started stepping up, countering almost every Red Raider hit attempt. The Jayhawks (13-2, 1-0) built a 19-12 lead and cruised from there.

Tech’s leading attacker coming into the game, freshman Emily Ehrle, was held without a kill the first set. She had four errors in 11 attempts from the left side, consistently hitting it right into awaiting Kansas hands.

While there were plenty of nerves to go around in the Big 12 opener, Flora said his freshmen were willing to make adjustments and change, especially Ehrle.

“The good thing is that young lady’s tough,” Flora said, “and she knows she can come out on the positive side of this. She in no way said ‘I don’t need to be out there,’ she said ‘what do I need to do?’ And that’s the kind of question we need to ask.”

Ehrle rebounded somewhat, ending the three-set match with four kills.

The Red Raiders were hardly competitive in the final two sets, going down 10-3 in the second and 9-3 in the third to dictate the rest of the match.

Sophomore transfer Rachel Brummitt said there were a lot of nerves on the floor, although she was confident from the get-go.

She led the team with 12 digs, and said it was good to get the first one out of the way.

“I think it was just some nerves for some of us,” she said. “I mean, it was our first conference game and just kind of getting into the swing of things.”

Kansas got Tech out of its offensive rhythm by separating Tech blockers along the floor. The Jayhawks, though, seemed like they always had two blockers ready to parry any hit the Red Raiders threw.

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This has been a consistently under-performing program for years. In fact, if we look at this program's ranking over the last few years we can basically say, "IT SUCKS" --a harsh but true assessment. Let's hope that this program will turn itself around, because women's volleyball straight set loss to Kansas does not augur well for a good season.